It Began With a Strawberry
by Calciii
Summary: A joke, a conversation, and a strawberry. This was all it took for Cloud's friendship with the adored and popular Mr. Zack Fair, resident ice cream parlor worker, to begin.  Primarily ZackCloud, also RikuSora and SephirothCloud, ?/?


**A/N:** Hiii ~ I'm Calci! I was once known as Mistress Maki's Shadow on FanFiction. I decided to revive (and revamp) this story – which hasn't been updated since 2008. Enjoy and I hope you guys like it! I also do not own _Kingdom Hearts_, _Final Fantasy VII_, or any of its characters.

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><p>Reno decided to take Cloud and Rude to the nearby ice cream parlor one blustery Wednesday afternoon. His treat, he had repeatedly reaffirmed.<p>

Their conversation went something like this:

"Rude! Cloudie-boy!" The red-haired male's expression instantly brightened at the sight of his friends sitting in their usual spot in the school courtyard. He squeezed himself in between them and stretched his legs out after doing so, placing his hands behind his head and squinting at the now emerging sunlight above them. "Maaan. It's _hot_! Let's go to that ice cream parlor that just opened up. My treat, 'kay?"

This was from Rude, who was known to answer in short replies, "Alright."

Cloud nodded. The blonde found that he had nothing more productive to do – his homework had long been completed and his tests had been studied for – so he decided that going there for a bit of relaxation would do him some good.

And who would pass up the chance for free ice cream? Not even the normally not-into-sweets Cloud could.

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><p><em>Ding, ding!<em>

"May I take your order?"

Reno and Rude had already decided what they wanted – Reno, mint chocolate chip mixed with oreo cookie crumbs and Rude, plain chocolate – and Cloud was the only one left to order something.

The blonde snapped back to the present as the ice cream worker in front of him continued to _ding_ the counter bell. He was grinning, his startling blue eyes staring straight into Cloud's conflicted ones.

"The line behind you won't get any shorter, y'know," the cheerful male continued, pointing to the three people behind Cloud who were impatiently waiting to order. Cloud found himself liking the male's voice. It had a distinctive upbeat rhythm to it, as if he didn't have one negative emotion in his body.

"I don't know what to get," he finally replied, eyes sweeping over the many flavors in front of him. There were the normal ones – blueberry cheesecake, chocolate, mint chocolate chip, rocky road, strawberry, and vanilla but there were also some unusual ones – brownie batter, lemon custard, toffee truffle, and the list seemed to go on and on. Instead of looking exasperated, the server – his nametag read _"I'm Zack, and making sure you're happy is this man's job!"_ – casually rested his elbow against the counter.

Zack (Cloud found himself liking that name already) looked down at the many ice cream flavors in front of him, looking thoughtful. "Hmm. I would recommend strawberry. It's really popular at the moment and you seem like a strawberry type of guy, to be honest." He grinned and winked. "And even if you're not, make me feel better by saying you are? I'm three for three on my recommendations so far!"

Instead of taking the bait, Cloud couldn't help but tease him a bit first. "Why strawberry when there's more unusual flavors to try? Your toffee truffle sounds good too."

The worker laughed and raised his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Anything you want, man. I'm not the guy in charge."

Cloud couldn't help but smile. "Change of heart then. I'll take strawberry."

Zack let out a happy _woo-hoo!_ and began making Cloud's order. "Maaan. You remind me of a really good friend of mine," he began, the beginning signs of an affectionate smile making its way onto his face. "She was awesome. She was never afraid to joke around with me or speak her mind." His smile turned fonder, a reminiscent look now making its way onto his features. "She was always there for me, never afraid to whack me on the head when I did silly stuff. She was into flowers and wearing pink."

The blonde noticed that his earlier request of a small size with a spoonful of rainbow sprinkles was turning into a large size with two spoonfuls of rainbow sprinkles. He opened his mouth to tell Zack but on second thought, not wanting to ruin the moment, asked, "What happened? You make it sound like you guys don't talk anymore."

"Her parents had to move out of state and she had to go with them," Zack replied with a sad smile. He sighed softly and ran a hand through his spiky hair. "Sorry. I guess there's something about you that reminds me of her. I didn't mean to go off on a tangent like that."

Cloud couldn't help but let a small laugh break free from his lips. "It's fine. My brother tells me I'm a good listener… that I radiate a soothing air or something, in his words. I guess it works with people who I've just met as well."

"Okay. Thanks," Zack replied, looking happier. He handed Cloud the huge cup and took Cloud's (or more specifically, Reno's) money. The man handed back the change and to Cloud's bemusement and relief, he had charged it as a small cup with only one scoop of rainbow sprinkles. "Oh! I almost forgot." The black-haired male went back to the assortment counter and brought back a strawberry. He placed it on top of Cloud's ice cream.

"An extra strawberry, free of charge."

The blonde nodded gratefully, finding himself almost wanting to talk to Zack more. Upon realizing that the line behind him was getting longer, Cloud waved a quick goodbye and made his way back to the table where Reno and Rude were sitting at. The duo was already making plans for which movie they should all watch this coming Friday.

With each bite that made its way down his stomach, Cloud felt a warm bubbly feeling tingle in that very spot. And Cloud found himself enjoying every bite of his treat until the very fruit that their conversation had been based on was remaining.

He was amazed that Zack had gotten his order right. But he knew that he would be coming here again tomorrow, there was no doubt about that.

After all, there were so many flavors for him to try.

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><p>I know this first chapter is short but I just wanted to get a feel for writing Clack again. Though there are <em>Final Fantasy VII<em> characters like Reno and Rude in this story, it is primarily going to be based around _Kingdom Hearts_ characters. I'll begin introducing characters from that series in the upcoming chapter (like the identity of Cloud's brother, dun dun dun) but any comments, critiques, suggestions, etc. are always appreciated. It only takes a minute to make my day. ^^


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